


The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson x Reader)

by thebonggirll



Series: Percy Jackson x Reader [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), F/M, International Fanworks Day 2021, Minor Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28808193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebonggirll/pseuds/thebonggirll
Summary: [ updates on every sunday ]After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods with her friends, Y/N Y/L/N finds her school year quite nice. Except for having her mind occupied with her friends being the new couple in camp, nothing else has been bothering her. While she tried her best to keep her feelings in check, somehow the few photos sent by Annabeth of them together, made her feel worse.But things don't stay quiet for long. she soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders that protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters.Now Y/N and her friends- Percy, Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson-must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. Y/N will learn a new secret about her friends-one that makes her question whether it's worth to keep tagging along with them like this in quests, risking her life for them.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan/Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson/Reader
Series: Percy Jackson x Reader [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2072649
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	1. Disclaimer

_**** _

_**Percy,**_ _ **Annabeth**_ _ **and all the other characters are older. They are 14 year old when they arrive at Camp Half-Blood**_. _**All other characters are older by 2 years accordingly.**_

This is a work of fanfiction using characters from the Percy Jackson series, which is written by Rick Riordan.

The story I tell here is my own invention, and it is not purported or believed to be part of Rick Riordan's story. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line.

All the characters are created and owned by Rick Riordan, and I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of Percy Jackson. But I do claim ownership of some of the characters added by the author of this fanfiction for the progress of the story.

**This book or any portion thereof may not be** **reproduced** **or used in any manner whatsoever or without the permission of the publisher. Plagiarism or duplication of my ideas are prohibited and will be reprimanded if found.**


	2. Chapter 2

" _We went to the movies._

_Miss you,_

_Annabeth._ "

Her eyes were fixed on the smiling faces in the picture. Annabeth had a beautiful smile and flushed face, indicating how she might've been against the idea of clicking the picture like that with Percy. He was the one with an amusing smile and his hands on her waist, standing close to each other.

Y/N wondered about who clicked the picture. Probably a stranger ofcourse. This was the only picture Annabeth sent her of them together, and all the other ones were of her alone.

But this was the only picture she looked more than once every other day. She knew she shouldn't and that it was a stupid idea to sulk over something like this when so many days has passed. After their little fight, she didn't have the chance to talk to Percy much. It was awkward but she felt this distance was good for her. Her papa did tell her that she has her whole life ahead and she knew what he meant by it. She just hoped that she would move on before they met again. 

"Did that boy come again?" someone asked. 

Y/N's school had a fest and they just finished participating in the event. She was sitting in the corner wearing black jeans, black crop top, black jacket with their school logo in the back. She brushed back her hair and looked at the girl standing in front of her.

"What boy?" Y/N asked and locked her phone. She blushed and cleared her throat. 

"That boy with dimples?" they asked, in a teasing manner.

Oh yeah, Harris. Y/N thought it was just a casual conversation between them but oneday walking out of her school, she saw the boy waiting for her outside the gates. Her stepfather wasn't so welcoming considering this was the first boy she actually introduced to him personally. He just noticed Alex a few times around her so he wasn't suspicious. But he became friendlier after some time when Harris started hanging out more.

He mainly visited her during her school fests when she had to perform with a band somewhere. Always somewhere in the crowd and after she's done he would always wait for her outside the green room - something that the girls were quick to notice. If it weren't for him, these same girls would've ignored her like they usually did.

Y/N was just curious _why_ they were suddenly so interested. It was either because they like him or they need a new gossip to talk about, ofcourse.

"Uh yeah, he's not coming today," Y/N said and they giggled. She quickly started packing up her bag, in the hope to get out of the room fast.

"Did you guys break up or something?"

"We're just friends and honestly it's none of your business girlie," Y/N said and got up. She wasn't sure but recently she had a dream of Harris running and fighting with something in the camp. She woke up sweating and wasn't sure if it was right. Asking Annabeth, she wanted to be sure that it wasn't just because they were meeting too often with each other. But she didn't get the chance yet. Y/N wanted to go back home and send her an email about it.

"Think he got bored of you," the girl laughed and turned to her friends, muttering something about her appearance again. "It was a surprise that he chose her in the first place. Seriously, a girl like her?" One of them said and they started giggling again.

The lights in the room started flickering. She was starting to get angry at them. 

"Oh yeah," Y/N turned towards them and said, "He chose the lead singer. How is that a surprise?" Y/N chuckled and stared at them a bit longer, who were looking at her a bit nervously when one of the bulbs in the room burst off, followed by one of the girls getting a nose bleed. This seemed to wake her up from the deep hatred that was slowly filling her mind. The girls freaked out and started to look for some tissues around the green room.

Her emotions affected others at times when it's intense, so she always needed to have it under control.

She wondered how it would've affected her friends for the feelings she had for Percy. And _how_. Would it be like they would start liking everything they looked at? Y/N sighed and walked out of the greenroom.

Outside her friend was waiting.

No, it wasn't Harris. It was Annabeth.

Y/N stood dumbfounded, unable to process it that she herself came to her, and watch her perform? "Huh?" she said in confusion.

"How's it going nightingale?"

* * *

The girls talked sitting outside the school. Annabeth being the experience one knew something was off in the camp. She's had dreams just like Y/N did, and got attacked by monsters a few times.

"I knew something was wrong but I didn't get any message from Chiron," Y/N said frowning.

"Look, I would be more than glad to have fun but right now we need to get Percy. He's not that far from here right?"

"I've to inform dad first, or else they'll be worried. And it's not that far from here, maybe just two hours I guess? I don't know, but you should."

Annabeth blushed and stuttered, "W-What do you mean? I never visited his home."

Y/N chuckled, "I'm just saying. Monsters gonna be up our ass now that we are closer to him right? So we can't really crash the night in my home. Sorry-"

"No, you're absolutely right," Annabeth said and bit her lips, thinking.

"Wait maybe I can call my dad for some help. He'll know for sure where we can spend the night," Y/N said, "Let's find a phone booth first."

They called her father and informed them about the situation. Using mobile phones was already dangerous so she advised her father to meet at a cafe near the school, to give her the necessary money required for the night.

Her father arrived as soon as he could after hearing her. He was wearing his office outfit and sweating. He had his briefcase clutched tight. 

"Dad!" Y/N shouted from the corner table they sat at, and her father rushed to her with a worried face. He hugged her, protectively.

"Uh did you have anything for dinner? I brought-" her dad looked like he was struggling to form words. Y/N sat him down and offered some water.

"We are okay," Y/N reassured him, "but we need to leave and stay somewhere...where the monsters won't be able to smell us."

"It's New York. There's a lot of places like that. Let me book you guys a room in a hotel. But it's going to be a bit shady area," he said, "I hope you both are going to be fine with that. Because we don't have a lot of options."

"Yeah we are gonna be fine," Y/N smiled, "I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

Just like Y/N's dad suggested, they managed to spend the night without monsters chasing them. The hotel was infact in a shady and dingy area which managed to keep their smell in control. The next day they left early, and went to Percy's school. That's where he was gonna be the whole day, as Annabeth informed.

Ofcourse it felt a bit awkward when Y/N thought about how after not keeping in touch, she was gonna walk in and take him to the camp like they've been talking to each other since forever. But, that wasn't the important part when monsters were attacking camp half-blood. Lives were in danger, and her friendship should be the last concern.

But right now she was standing outside waiting for Annabeth to come out with Percy. She managed to sneak in with the help of her invisible cap. Hours started to pass and she knew if she stayed here any longer, monsters will come for her. She didn't want to put the people around her in danger.

Suddenly she heard a bunch of loud bursts, and after about a minute or so she saw Annabeth come out alone. She pulled Y/N in an alley down Church Street.

"What was that?" Y/N asked.

"What do you think?" Annabeth sighed, "There's always monsters around the son of poseidon, ofcourse. He'll join us with someone."

"Someone?"

"He has a freaking cyclop hanging around him, and he has no idea!" Annabeth said, angrily.

"Well, he doesn't have much experience in these stuffs like you do."

"I should've known though..." Annabeth muttered, "He should've informed me."

"Why would he inform you about a new giant friend he has made in school who-" Y/N stopped and noticed Percy along with the cyclops she mentioned.

Annabeth pulled Tyson and Percy off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep, his school.

"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

Now, under different circumstances, Percy would've been really happy to see her. His eyes moved towards Y/N who was staring at Tyson. He watched her whole demeanor, and noticed how tired she was. He would never admit it, but seeing Y/N's face after such a long time really made him happy. He forgot about his worries for just a moment, when she gave him an awkward smile.

"He's my friend," Percy told her.

"Is he homeless?" Annabeth asked.

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

She looked surprised. "He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."

"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.

Y/N frowned and slapped her back lightly, and said, "He's giving you an honest compliment. Grow up Annabeth." She smiled politely at him and said, "But she's Percy's girlfriend so watch what you say okay?"

Percy rolled his eyes, ears turning a bit red. He examined Tyson's hands, which he was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine-grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips-but they always looked like that. "Tyson," he said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."

Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth's blond hair. He tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand away.

"Annabeth," Percy said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry-I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

Annabeth then explained about her dreams to Percy while they informed Tyson about their real identity, which he was surprisingly quick to believe.

A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.

"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" he said. "You know how much money-"

"Trust me."

Annabeth threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space-bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. 

Percy entered first. Tyson squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last. Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and said, "All okay there? Have a nice trip!"

"You don't have to be so sarcastic," Annabeth said and then muttered, "We can make some room for you."

"How?" Y/N shouted, "By sitting on your lap?"

Percy and Annabeth exchanged looks and she nodded her head.

"I'll literally crush you dude," Y/N scoffed.

"I am the daughter of Athena. You don't think I can handle your weight?"

"Don't pull that card on me," Y/N pouted and got in quickly sitting on her lap, "Whatever dude."

The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy-no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating them from the old lady driving ...There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

* * *

At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.

Their eyes went towards the two bulls -bronze ones the size of elephants and ten heroes in full battle armor inside the camp. Yes, it was worrying that the camp's magic boundaries which didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree wasn't working and there were metal bulls going on a rampage.

Y/N didn't know what to do. First of all, she had nothing with her except the money her dad sent her. No weapon that would be a help to the people in camp. Percy immediately uncapped his pen and charged towards one of the bull. Annabeth kept shouting something and let Tyson in the camp. She had no idea what to do in the situation.

The horses were also on a rampage all across the camp. She thought if any of the hymns would help in stopping them, but she wasn't sure about it. There were halfbloods around and she knew it was a disadvantage in such a crowd. So she decided to use what she practiced at home during the little break she got from the camp.

Concentrating on one of the bronze horse which was hitting everyone on their way, she focused on the sound around the area and used the soundwaves to hit the horse with it hard enough for it to fly away in another direction. Panting, she smiled at her first attempt of using the move and nailing it. All of a sudden, she was dragged on one direction and fell down on the ground. A horse went galloping right past her, and she looked at the person behind her.

"What are you doing! It's not safe here!" Harris said, "Go to the Big House. The wounded need more help."

"How did this happen? Thalia was supposed to-" her eyes went wide looking at the tree that protected them for so long. The magical borders were failing because Thalia's tree was dying.

Someone had poisoned it.

Y/N didn't have the time to say hi to him. She immediately got up and ran, dodging some of the bronze horses and taking one of the wounded with herself.

On the surface, things didn't look all that different. The Big House was still there with its blue gabled roof and its wraparound porch. The strawberry field still baked in the sun. The same white-columned Greek buildings were scattered around the valley-the amphitheater, the combat arena, the dining pavilion overlooking Long Island Sound. And nestled between the woods and the creek were the same cabins-a crazy assortment of twelve buildings, each representing a different Olympian god.

But there was an air of danger now. Instead of playing volleyball in the sandpit, counselors and satyrs were stockpiling weapons in the tool shed. Dryads armed with bows and arrows talked nervously at the edge of the woods. The forest looked sickly, the grass in the meadow was pale yellow, and the fire marks on Half-Blood Hill stood out like ugly scars.

As she went in the Big House, she noticed many familiar faces but no one stopped to exchange words. Everyone carried out their duties. Y/N noticed Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags. She went ahead and made the wounded camper sit as she started working with her half brothers and sisters. She started checking the vitals of one the wounded and one of her siblings started filling in about what went around the camp in the short amount of time.

* * *

The sun was setting behind the dining pavilion as the campers came up from their cabins. Percy stood in the shadow of a marble column and watched them file in. Y/N was standing nearby, just not near her friends. Right now, she was exhausted after treating so many of the wounded. She didn't have the time to rest and immediately started working. The work of the Apollo cabin was more then she imagined and they needed all the helping hand they could afford.

Also she wasn't yet ready mentally to talk to Percy when she saw him and Annabeth holding hands and standing close to each other. Annabeth was still pretty shaken up with Chiron leaving the camp, but she promised she'd talk to him later. Then she gave him a light peck and went off to join her siblings from the Athena cabin.

Y/N turned away and closed her eyes. She needed to join her cabin soon. Taking some time, she started walking towards her cabin and joined her siblings. It wasn't like Percy didn't notice her at all. He noticed how quiet she was the whole journey and she still wasn't talking to him. It made him think if she was still mad about what happened last summer. He expected some kind of contact from her, but she didn't even bother to send him a little 'hi'.

He already heard loads of stories from Annabeth, how funny and clumsy she is. And he wanted to know more, for some reason. It was curiosity ofcourse. There was something strange about her. She was happy and bubbly, and made everyone calm around herself. But he often noticed how quiet she got at times, how she preferred to stay alone.

Oh, and he was still waiting for the day when he would be able to hear her sing to him alone.

Just like Annabeth and Grover did. Without him dozing off to sleep. Last time, she did sing to him but it was to heal him and he couldn't remember much about it.


	4. Chapter 4

There was already a lot happening in the camp with Chiron gone and Tantalus was the one who got his duties.

The cyclops hanging around Percy got claimed by Poseidon himself. And the guy who has been defending Tyson all the time didn't spare a minute to lose his demeanor. His face was enough to know that he felt ashamed to have a cyclops for a brother.

As always, Percy was a topic of discussion in the camp. Y/N would try to sympathize with him but it was of no use. Tyson had it worse right? And being his brother, Percy wasn't much of a help. He was embarrassed and like he always was, he took no regards of how the other person must be feeling.

Let's be honest, he's kind of a dick sometimes.

On the top of that it was still awkward to talk to him. Apart from small talks, Y/N found it hard to talk to him. He had other things to worry about, so she didn't really have the time to figure out a way to talk to him. Besides, it spared her from watching her friends being lovey-dovey with each other. She decided to focus on her training instead.

One morning Annabeth and Percy were sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs when some jokers from Aphrodite's cabin walked by and asked him if he needed to borrow some eyeliner for his eye... "Oh sorry, eyes."

As they walked away laughing, Annabeth grumbled, "Just ignore them, Percy. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother."

"He's not my brother!" he snapped. "And he's not a monster, either!"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he is a monster."

"Well you gave him permission to enter the camp."

"Because it was the only way to save your life! I mean... I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect Poseidon to claim him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous-"

"He is not! What have you got against Cyclopes, any-way?

Annabeth's ears turned pink. "Just forget it," she said. "Now, the axle for this chariot-"

"You're treating him like he's this horrible thing," I said. "He saved my life."

Annabeth threw down her pencil and stood. "Then maybe you should design a chariot with him."

"Maybe I should."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

She stormed off and left him feeling even worse than before. Y/N who was sitting a bit away from the both watched the commotion. She wanted to go and talk to him, but it looked like a bad time. She decided to concentrate on her small notebook instead.

"Uh...hey,"

Y/N looked up hearing the voice. It was Percy standing in front of her. He finally took some time out of his hands and decided to talk to her. But it felt like he did because technically he had no one to talk to now.

"Hey," she said, going back to work on her notebook.

"What are you doing?" He sat down beside her.

"Uh...just writing a lyric from a song. It's kind of a hobby I guess. I write lyrics of songs that....affect me the most everyday. Today it's..." she felt a bit reluctant but knowing how oblivious he can be, she decided to show him anyway.

He looked at the tiny notebook, the page decorated with designs and a lyric written in the middle. "So kind of a diary?" he asked as she took back her notebook and started drawing again.

"You can say so."

"I don't know but...are you avoiding us?"

Y/N's hand stopped, "What?"

"You aren't exactly talking to us like you used to. I mean...I thought you would be closer to Annabeth but she told me you weren't talking to her either."

"No it's nothing. I just thought...you guys have worse problems to deal with right now."

"Is it because of what I said last time?"

"Wait wha-"

"Look I...uh..didn't mean it, okay? I was just mad that you didn't tell me about my mother."

Y/N chuckled, "I guess...that's part of a reason but I thought you were mad so you wouldn't want me to contact you."

"No!" Percy said quickly, almost feeling embarrassed about how he didn't spare a second to reply her, "You were...to be honest the only one who made me feel sane in this whole camp."

Y/N laughed at his words and sighed. Finally gathering some courage, she asked, "So? First fight?"

Percy chuckled, "Well...not really."

Her eyes widened and she asked, "Ït's not your first fight? I thought...things will change after you guys made it official." The words left a bitter taste on her mouth.

"Come on, it's Annabeth and I. We are not really the most cooperative..." he stopped for a moment choosing his words correctly "..people in here." It would've been easier to just call themselves a couple, but somehow with Y/N the words bore a heavier weight.

"It's gonna work out. Don't worry..." she said avoiding his eyes and looking back into her notebook. She knew her emotions weren't strong enough to affect him now but..her eyes. She was afraid of how he might just figure it out. Crush or not, her friends came first.

And she didn't want to be the one who breaks the friendship.

"Also...I've been having dreams about Grover."

"Grover? But he's-"

"Just hear me out," Percy interrupted her and slid closer. Y/N who was extremely conscious of their closeness, refused to look back at him, and kept her eyes fixed on the notebook as he filled her in with the details.

_"Even if you're in danger on the boundary_

_Let's cut through the wind while laughing and chatting_

_Sometimes run like a fool_

_With mistakes and in tears, we just go."_

The lyrics on the page felt much more real with each passing minute with him.

* * *

The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like sauna steam. Millions of birds were roosting in the trees-fat gray-and-white pigeons, except they didn't coo like regular pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound that reminded me of submarine radar.

Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers. Y/N decided to lay low among her other cabin members after getting claimed. Being on the spotlight wasn't her strong point. She worked best when she was in the shadows, barely noticeable among the others in all the chaos.

Before the race began, Percy tried to approach Annabeth and tell her about his dream but she shrugged him off by telling how he was just trying to distract her.

"Gosh how and why are you doing this?"

"Hey Harris, no 'hi' or 'goodluck' for me?" Y/N chuckled.

"Don't avoid the topic."

"Uh..if you haven't noticed, we have a race to focus on," Y/N looked at Tantalus and tried to dodge his question again.

"Fine, but we are going to talk after this. Don't act like you are okay with them, atleast in front of me."

"How...did you find out?"

"Are you kidding me? I've been spending way more time with you to not know that," he smirked and squeezed her right cheek, brushing his thumb gently by her ears with eyes full of adoration. "Good luck," he said and went back to his spot.

Y/N smiled and decided to go to her position. Annabeth was stubborn and frankly quite petty when it came to stuffs like this. Focusing her attention back on the race, she noticed how many more pigeons were in the trees now-screeching like crazy, making the whole forest rustle. Nobody else seemed to be paying them much attention, but they made her nervous. Their beaks glinted strangely. Their eyes seemed shinier than regular birds.

These birds gathering around made her task feel a bit difficult. She used trees to hide herself to sneak attack on the opponent. But that wasn't an option now, was it?


	5. Chapter 5

Their suspicions turned out to be right. The birds were slashing at any bit of exposed flesh, driving everyone into a panic. When observed closely, they realized that they weren't normal pigeons. Their eyes were beady and evil-looking. Their beaks were made of bronze, and judging from the yelps of the campers, they must've been razor sharp. Those were Stymphalian birds as Annabeth yelled in the middle of the chaos.

The demon pigeons went nuts. They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to bash their own brains out. Then they abandoned the track altogether and flew skyward in a huge dark wave.

"Now!" shouted Annabeth. "Archers!"

With clear targets, Apollo's archers had flawless aim. Most of them could knock five or six arrows at once. Within minutes, the ground was littered with dead bronze-beaked pigeons, and the survivors were a distant trail of smoke on the horizon.

The camp was saved, but the wreckage wasn't pretty. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. Almost everyone was wounded, bleeding from multiple bird pecks. The kids from Aphrodite's cabin were screaming because their hairdos had been ruined and their clothes pooped on.

While Tantalus announced Clarisse as the winner, he also blamed Annabeth and Percy for what happened. The way Tantalus saw it, the Stymphalian birds had simply been minding their own business in the woods and would not have attacked if Annabeth, Tyson, and Percy hadn't disturbed them with their bad chariot driving.

Y/N was too tired to save her friends from the punishment they received - kitchen patrol-scrubbing pots and platters all afternoon in the underground kitchen with the cleaning harpies. The harpies washed with lava instead of water, to get that extra-clean sparkle and kill ninety-nine point nine percent of all germs, so Annabeth and Percy had to wear asbestos gloves and aprons.

She knew her special bow and arrow weren't working the way it was supposed to. So she took some time and practiced using the normal ones and clearly her training paid off. When her friends were busy with their punishment, Y/N was busy treating the wounds with the rest of the Apollo kids. It was good for training, but took a lot of energy out of her. Experience wise, she was still a few steps behind than the rest of them.

"Honestly why did you stand still like that?" Y/N said applying some medicine of Harris's scratched hand.

His nose scrunched as the area stung and he chuckled, "Wow, nice way to say thank you to save your ass. TWO TIMES."

She huffed and dabbed a bit harder at the comment as he yelled. She smiled and said, "You could've ran you know? Tch, look at what your stupidity did."

"Okay you gotta stop scolding me like my parents do," He laughed.

She stopped for a moment and looked at him, "Turns out we DO act the same way as our parents when shit happens."

"So are we gonna talk about it or...."

"We are not."

"Well atleast you accept that you've been feeling down."

Y/N cleaned up the medical supplies and chuckled, "You are not gonna let this go, will you?"

"Glad we are on the same page," he laughed, "By the way, I saved your ass two times and still had to wait in the queue for treatment? Like there's no respect for friendship down here huh!"

She laughed and said, "We serve every patient equally. Oh, you gotta go now, the others are-"

"Take a break Y/N," one of her half brother said, "You've been working non-stop. We can handle the last few of them."

"Okay thank you," she said, getting up and stretching her arms. She walked outside towards the canoe lake along with Harris. As she sat down, she said, "Look, I know I'm stuck in a weird situation but they are my friends. You can't expect me to not support them."

"I'm not telling you to not support them. I'm just telling you to....maintain your distance. I don't wanna put suspicions in your mind but," he cleared his throat, contemplating whether to say the words and then said, "do they think of you as their close friend? Annabeth does, I guess but Percy? Is that guy even worth it to get your head messed up?"

Y/N tightened her fist as a sense of shame took over, "I don't know if he does for sure but I'm doing this for Annabeth. Besides, we don't know each other for long, so I'm sure these feelings will go away."

"Yeah, that's kind of what you said the last time you left."

"I'm trying okay?! I don't even know why I feel this way around him. It's like....he has a weird effect on me that I'm just not able to brush off."

Harris noticed her mood going down, as she tried to hide her face with her hair falling on her face. He brushed them behind her ears gently and turned her face towards himself. Y/N looked at him teary eyed as he broke down a smile and said, "I didn't have the chance to listen you perform in your latest school fest. What did you sing?"

Y/N chuckled and fixed her posture, looking around the area, "Okay, since you begged for it-"

"Oh please, you're just looking out for other campers! How the heck are you okay to perform in front of thousands of mortals and during campfire, but not around all of us?"

"Shut up!" she shoved him playfully, "You know I sing solo for special people!"

He smirked and raised his eyebrow, "So I'm special?"

Y/N stared at him for a while, before looking back at the lake with a tiny blush on her face and started singing her song, realizing he was not going to look away anytime soon.

* * *

That night at the campfire, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. They tried to get everybody's spirits up, but it wasn't easy after that afternoon's bird attack. The campers sat around a semicircle of stone steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their guitars and picked their lyres.

They did all the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean," "I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandpa," "This Land is Minos's Land." The bonfire was enchanted, so the louder you sang, the higher it rose, changing color and heat with the mood of the crowd. On a good night, it twenty feet high, bright purple, and so hot the whole front row's marshmallows burst into the flames. Tonight, the fire was only five feet high, barely warm, and the flames were the color of lint.

Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this. Then he gave Tantalus a distasteful look and headed back toward the Big House.

Y/N noticed Annabeth and Percy talking. I mean, it wasn't weird that they patched things up, it was just their expressions were far too serious to talk about sweet nothings. She decided to let them be, and concentrated on the bonfire. If they were talking, that meant Percy had already filled in about his dreams of Grover and they were planning something.

" _Do they think of you as their close friend?_ " Harris's statement came to her mind.

When the last song was over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!" He came forward with a toasted marshmallow on a stick and tried to pluck it off, real casual-like. But before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew off the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames.

Tantalus turned back toward them, smiling coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

"Sir," Percy said.

Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?" Some of the Ares campers snickered, but he wasn't going to let anybody embarrass him into silence. He stood and looked at Annabeth. Thank the gods, she stood up with me.

Percy said, "We have an idea to save the camp."

Her suspicion turned out to be right. It turned her mood sour. Ofcourse, they were planning something and she wasn't a part of it. Her eyes went towards Harris who was already looking at her muttering, "dick."

Y/N chuckled and focused on her two friends.

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots-"

"The Golden Fleece," Percy said. "We know where it is."

The flames burned orange. Before Tantalus could stop him, he blurted out his dream about Grover and Polyphemus's island. Annabeth stepped in and reminded everybody what the Fleece could do. It sounded more convincing coming from her.

"The Fleece can save the camp," she concluded. "I'm certain of it."

"Nonsense," said Tantalus. "We don't need saving."

Everybody stared at him until Tantalus started looking uncomfortable. "Besides," he added quickly, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Yes, I would," Percy said.

Annabeth leaned toward him and whispered, "You would?"

He nodded, because Annabeth had jogged something in his memory when she reminded him about their taxi drive with the Gray Sisters. At the time, the information they'd given him made no sense. But now ...

"30, 31, 75, 12," he said.

"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

"They're sailing coordinates," Percy said. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies."

Even Annabeth looked impressed. "30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"

"Wait just a minute," Tantalus said.

But the campers took up the chant. "We need a quest! We need a quest!"

The flames rose higher.

"It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"

"Fine!" Tantalus shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!"

"Very well," he agreed. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."

Y/N rolled her eyes and looked away towards the fire. She wasn't needed in the team anyway, right?


	6. Chapter 6

Things didn't go as they planned. Tantalus agreed, but chose Clarisse for the quest to save the camp. And just as expected, she immediately agreed and her cabin cheered on the decision. When Percy tried to reason that he should be the one to go on the quest, ofcourse being Grover's friend that was his priority, along with all the other campers, Tantalus silenced them. He also warned that anyone who tries to leave the camp will be expelled immediately.

She knew she was being petty but Y/N felt a sense of satisfaction when Percy got denied. She was already feeling down the whole time he was speaking of the quest. It almost felt like they didn't even think of her once while making the plans. Heck, they already decided that she would agree to go with them instead of asking her.

And that's what she told him.

"What," she chuckled walking back to her cabin, "now you want to talk to me?"

"Wait what?" Percy asked. He came to talk to her about the quest as soon as dinner time was over and everyone was heading back to their cabins.

"Don't act dumb. Both of you came up with the plan and didn't feel the need to ask for my opinion. Why should I listen to you now?"

"Are you being serious? We were literally punished the whole day-"

"You surely got to take bathroom breaks and all. You could've talked to me if you wanted to Percy. But you didn't."

He scoffed, "How? By interfering you when you were busy cozying up to Harris?"

"Wow, I'm surprised you even know his name when you barely care enough unless it's useful to you."

"Oh do you think I know Clarisse's name because she's useful to me?"

Y/N laughed, "You can't ignore her even if you wanted to. Its hard to forget your first experience with her."

Percy was about to argue with her again when she interrupted him and said, "You know what, let's just talk about it tomorrow. I'm too tired."

He stopped and watched her retreating figure. Y/N was pissed, ofcourse. What was worse is that Percy had no idea what he did wrong. It's almost as if he didn't want to admit that he was wrong to not ask for her opinion since he discussed plans with his smart girlfriend.

"Woo, feels good to see you stand your ground sunshine," Y/N heard Harris's voice.

"God, not now..leave me alone," she whined as he slung his arm on her shoulder lazily.

"I heard my name there."

Y/N chuckled, "Trust me, I was surprised too."

"I just feel like he's bitter that you sang for me and not for him when he clearly asked to sing before."

"Uh, well his actions just made it worse. Don't tell him what I sang for you if he asks."

Harris brushed his fingers on her cheek and lightly pulled it, with a smile on his face, "You don't need to tell me that."

* * *

She didn't get to be angry with them for long. As she was sitting and reading a storybook at night with a lamp on, she heard Percy scream for help. Instinctively, ran out to see what was going on when she spotted Tyson and Annabeth running towards the beach.

"You heard him too?" Annabeth asked, to which Y/N nodded her head in response.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard you calling for help!"

"Me, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'"

"I didn't call you guys," Percy said. "I'm fine."

"But then who..." Annabeth noticed the four yellow duffel bags, then the thermos and the bottle of vitamins I was holding. "What-"

"Just listen," he said. "We don't have much time."

Percy told them about his conversation with Hermes, of how he wanted him to save Luke. By the time he was finished, they could hear screeching in the distance-patrol harpies picking up our scent.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "we have to do the quest."

"We'll get expelled, you know. Trust me, I'm an expert at getting expelled."

"So? If we fail, there won't be any camp to come back to."

"Yeah, but you promised Chiron-"

"I promised I'd keep you from danger. I can only do that by coming with you! Tyson can stay behind and tell them-"

"I want to go," Tyson said.

"No!" Annabeth's voice sounded close to panic. "I mean ... Percy, come on. You know that's impossible."

She and Tyson both looked at Percy, waiting for an answer. Meanwhile, the cruise ship was getting farther and farther away.

The thing was, a part of him didn't want Tyson along. He'd spent the last three days in close quarters with the guy, getting razzed by the other campers and embarrassed a million times a day, constantly reminded that he was related to him.

Percy needed some space.

Plus, he didn't know how much help he'd be, or how they would keep him safe. Sure, he was strong, but Tyson was a little kid in Cyclops terms, maybe seven or eight years old, mentally.

On the other hand, the sound of the harpies was getting closer....

"We can't leave him," Percy decided. "Tantalus will punish him for us being gone."

"Percy," Annabeth said, trying to keep her cool, "we're going to Polyphemus's island! Polyphemus is an S-i-k ... a C-y-k . .." She stamped her foot in frustration. As smart as she was, Annabeth was dyslexic, too. We could've been there all night while she tried to spell Cyclops. "You know what I mean!"

"Tyson can go," Percy insisted, "if he wants to."

Tyson clapped his hands. "Want to!"

Y/N quietly watched them fight. She knew they were going on this quest anyway, and clearly they didn't even acknowledge her presence. She wondered what she was doing here and turned back, ready to go when she felt someone grab her arm.

"Where are you going?" Percy asked.

"I'm going back. Do whatever you want."

"What's with you?! We don't have the time for this! We have to go right now!"

"Oh and why do I have to listen to you?!" she asked looking at him as his grip on her arm tightened.

"He's gonna punish you if you decide to go back now."

She quietly stared at him as her decision was almost final when she heard Annabeth plead, "Please, I don't want another thing to feel guilty about."

"It's on me, you have nothing to feel guilty about," she sighed. Y/N didn't quite understand what she was talking about. Maybe she was just guilty about her informing Percy about his mother without asking her. That would make sense.

Annabeth walked closer to her and whispered, "Please just come with us. Percy and I are gonna murder each other if we are left alone. Besides, we have been fighting a lot-"

"Okay," Y/N agreed after a while and looked at Percy, who was still holding her arm.

_She did have something to feel guilty about too._

She looked away at the ground, pulling her arm out of his grip. She touched and rubbed the area, which looked red and burned a bit since he held her tightly. Like always, he didn't know how he was hurting people in the first place.

"Dumbass," Y/N muttered under her breath.

"All right," Annabeth said. "How do we get to that ship?"

"Hermes said my father would help."

"Well then, Seaweed Brain? What are you waiting for?"

Percy had always had a hard time calling on his father, or praying, or whatever you want to call it, but he stepped into the waves.

"Uhm, Dad?" he called. "How's it going?"

"Percy!" Annabeth whispered. "We're in a hurry!"

"We need your help," he called a little louder. "We need to get to that ship, like, before we get eaten and stuff, so ..."


	7. Chapter 7

At first, nothing happened. Waves crashed against the shore like normal. The harpies sounded like they were right behind the sand dunes. Then, about a hundred yards out to sea, three white lines appeared on the surface. They moved fast toward the shore, like claws ripping through the ocean. As they neared the beach, the surf burst apart and the heads of three white stallions reared out of the waves. The creatures pulled themselves onto the sand - they were only horses in the front; their back halves were silvery fish bodies, with glistening scales and rainbow tail fins - Hippocampi.

Poseidon must've known Tyson was one of the passengers, because one hippocampus was much larger than the other two-just right for carrying a Cyclops.

The harpies cursed at them, wailing for their snacks to come back, but the hippocampi raced over the water at the speed of Jet Skis. The harpies fell behind, and soon the shore of Camp Half-Blood was nothing but a dark smudge. Y/N was already having a lot of regrets. A stupid decision made on a whim just because of a boy could expel her forever. She wondered if she'd ever see the place again. But well, they had other problems for the time being.

The cruise ship was now looming in front of them - their ride toward Florida and the Sea of Monsters. Riding the hippocampus was even easier than riding a pegasus. They zipped along with the wind in their faces, speeding through the waves so smooth and steady.

As they got closer to the cruise ship, they noticed the ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters, lit with a spotlight - PRINCESS ANDROMEDA. Y/N remembered the myth about Andromeda and how she had been chained to a rock by her own parents as a sacrifice to a sea monster. Perseus, namesake of Percy, had saved her just in time and turned the sea monster to stone using the head of Medusa.

"How do we get aboard?" Annabeth shouted over the noise of the waves, but the hippocampi seemed to know what they needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.

"You first," Percy told Annabeth.

She slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbed the bottom rung. Once she'd hoisted herself onto the ladder, her hippocampus whinnied a farewell and dove underwater. Annabeth began to climb. 

"Y/N?" Percy called her.

"Uh yeah," she replied and moved forward slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder like Annabeth. Y/N looked a bit hesitant to climb up. She licked her lips and looked up at her friend who was climbing up like a pro.

"Here," Percy offered for help.

Y/N awkwardly muttered a small 'yes'. She felt him closing near behind her, and waited. It took him longer than she expected, so she looked behind to find him just behind her, his hands near her waist. She cleared her throat and said, "You don't have to touch me. Just hold the bottom rung. I just need to hold you for support for a while, it's dark for fuck's sake."

He did as was told, and soon everyone was up on the deck stacked with yellow lifeboats. There was a set of locked double doors, which Annabeth managed to pry open with her knife and a fair amount of cursing in Ancient Greek. 

Y/N blushed at the thought. How was Percy thinking of helping her? By hoisting her up by holding her waist? Clearly he looked uncomfortable by it. Sure, they were friends but they weren't really on the stage where they could casually touch each other. It was kind of okay before, but after their little fight it was definitely awkward. For her though, it was a bit worse since she had a crush on him and any kind of close touch would make her take two steps back on forgetting these feelings she had for him. Harris on the other hand...she was comfortable with him.

Being a kid of Apollo came with it's pros and cons. And right now, it was hell of a disadvantage for Y/N. They'd have to sneak around, being stowaways and all. Yeah, it was also awful to think about how they wanted her to come expecting some help but instead they have to guide her around while looking around the ship.

As soon as Annabeth got the doors opened, Y/N looked at Percy for a moment and then walked towards Annabeth holding her hand.

"You don't mind, do you?" she whispered.

She heard a chuckle coming from her and a reassuring squeeze. Percy watched them talk from a distance and followed them in. He was glad that it was dark or the lights would've exposed his embarrassment. His embarrassment for moving his hand forward to hold Y/N's hand like he did back when they went to visit Hades. Yes, he remembered. But he didn't think that she can actually hold onto Annabeth too. He really forgot how that was an option too. And although he wanted to brush it off thinking it didn't matter, a part of him grew angrier. He was mad after their petty fight and this was just adding oil to the fire.

She just didn't feel like she was before, on his first quest.

After checking a few corridors and peering over a balcony into a huge central promenade lined with closed shops, they realized there was nobody to hide from. Sure it was the middle of the night, but they walked half the length of the boat and met no one. They passed forty or fifty cabin doors and heard no sound behind any of them.

"It's a ghost ship," Percy murmured.

"No," Tyson said, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Bad smell."

Annabeth frowned. "I don't smell anything."

"Cyclopes are like satyrs," Percy said. "They can smell monsters. Isn't that right, Tyson?"

"I think we should listen to him. Last time it didn't go that well when we ignored Grover," Y/N said.

"Okay," Annabeth said. "So what exactly do you smell?"

"Something bad," Tyson answered.

"Great," Annabeth grumbled. "That clears it up."

They came outside on the swimming pool level. There were rows of empty deck chairs and a bar closed off with a chain curtain. The water in the pool glowed eerily, sloshing back and forth from the motion of the ship.

Above them fore and aft were more levels-a climbing wall, a putt-putt golf course, a revolving restaurant, but no sign of life.

"We need a hiding place," Percy said, "Somewhere safe to sleep."

"Sleep," Annabeth agreed wearily.

They explored a few more corridors until we found an empty suite on the ninth level. The door was open, which was weird. There was a basket of chocolate goodies on the table, an iced-down bottle of sparkling cider on the nightstand, and a mint on the pillow with a handwritten note that said: Enjoy your cruise!

They opened our duffel bags for the first time and found that Hermes really had thought of everything-extra clothes, toiletries, camp rations, a Ziploc bag full of cash, a leather pouch full of golden drachmas. He'd even managed to pack Tyson's oilcloth with his tools and metal bits, and Annabeth's cap of invisibility, and Y/N's special bow and arrow which made them feel a lot better.

"I'll be next door," Annabeth said. "You guys don't drink or eat anything. Come on Y/N."

"Well, I am still holding your hand. You can just take me where you want," she said yawning.

"You think this place is enchanted?" Percy asked.

She frowned. "I don't know. Something isn't right. Just...be careful."

"I know there's a story behind this ship but it's kind of weird for all the food to be still good and...I don't know. It feels like a trap," Y/N said.

They nodded their heads in agreement and went in their respective rooms and locked their doors.

There was a strange silence lingering in the atmosphere. It was weird because the girls didn't have any kind of fight but there was still something that felt heavy. Y/N sighed and lied on her bed, too tired to think of a conversation. 

"What happened between the both of you?" 

Y/N sighed and looked at Annabeth lying across her on another bed. "He didn't tell you?" she asked.

".....No," Annabeth answered, trying to keep her confident voice on.

Y/N chuckled and asked, "What happened between the both of you?"

Annabeth quietly looked at her for a moment and said, "I don't understand. Is this a joke to you?"

"No, I just think Percy's an ass. He's the root cause for both of our problems, isn't he?" 

"Look it's a common thing between us. Everyone knows we fight but..." Annabeth said, "you guys? It's weird."

"Why is it weird that we fight? You know how he can be total shit at times. A few times I can ignore it but I can't just overlook it every time Annabeth."

"No, you're right ofcourse. It's just that it's weird because...both of you clicked. I mean, somehow you shared something that felt like you won't fight because your thought process is a bit similar. I didn't think it would be serious and that...you guys don't share the similarity."

Y/N blushed at the comment and said, "It is serious when you're taking a decision for me instead of asking me for my opinion. You guys planned all of this and didn't once think of how I was gonna react? Why? Is it because you think I can't give you good ideas for your plan?"

Annabeth stayed quiet for a while and said, "Are you mad at me too?"

"I don't know?! I'm too confused to think about it."

"I'm sorry Y/N. I hope Percy and you set things straight. I mean, you aren't really close if you don't ever get angry at them. I just...didn't think you would disagree to the plan. It's partly my fault."

"God, atleast you're owning up to your mistakes. Why did you think I'll agree? I mean sure we are friends but did you think I wouldn't think of going when I can put both of you in danger by breaking the 'trios are better for quests' rule?"

"No we didn't think that much. I just thought you would support us."

"I would help you out in any way I can, but still ask me before next time."

"I thought that..." Annabeth's voice faded and then after a while she muttered 'goodnight'. Y/N took it as a sign that she was definitely tired and both of them needed some sleep. But Annabeth. She was awake for a while. It was better to let her roommate for the night know about it later.

About how she knew about the feelings for Percy that Y/N has been hiding.


	8. Chapter 8

"It'll pay off," Luke snapped. "They'll take the bait. Now, come, we've got to get to the admiralty suite and check on the casket."

Their voices receded down the corridor.

Yes, Luke was in the ship with them. The next day Y/N woke up to the ship's whistle and heard a voice on the intercom-some guy with an Australian accent who sounded way too happy, "Good morning, passengers! We'll be at sea all day today. Excellent weather for the poolside mambo party! Don't forget million-dollar bingo in the Kraken Lounge at one o'clock, and for our special guests, disemboweling practice on the Promenade!"

Once they were all dressed, they ventured out into the ship and were surprised to see other people. But all of their expressions were blank. 

The weird thing was: a middle-aged couple was standing in the buffet line right behind a devil dog, patiently waiting their turn for the eggs. They didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

That was when they heard two voices talk. And following up the conversation, they heard the familiar voice of someone who betrayed the camp. It was crystal clear to them. They can't go to their quest without hearing what Luke was up to.

Things didn't go so smoothly, ofcourse, as expected. The monsters gathering in a room with Luke, stopped their discussion midway and they got busted. Y/N expected some brutal fight to come their way but that wasn't the case. Luke was dressed different and the conversation that took place...felt personal. It looked like Annabeth, Luke and Thalia had a history.

It was no place to overthink about things but the thoughts that came to her mind immediately watching Annabeth and Luke talk, made her feel about certain things differently. She observed their eyes and there was no doubt that Luke despised Percy but...still wanted Annabeth with him. Whether this was some kind of a weird love triangle or not, she wasn't sure. But what she was sure of was that both of them had common emotions. Both of them were filled with pain, anger and mostly, longing.

Y/N just wished Percy would be as oblivious in the situation as he was during the other times. 

Feelings aside, she also was surprised to find logic in what Luke said. She for one, understood how it felt to have your parent ignore you while they're busy with other stuffs - some of which she was pretty sure to be not as important as claiming your own child. Well, she was still a bit mad with her papa.

But the thing is, she isn't so stupid to go on a war because her parent didn't claim her. She didn't want to judge Luke's feelings but destroying so many lives because of getting angry at your father felt plain stupid. She was sure why he was doing this though.

Titan definitely exploited his insecurities and anger, and easily got a hold of him. It didn't matter how much of a dick Luke acted like, and how hard he tried to look emotionless. In the end, he was doing all of this because his feelings were hurt.

* * *

After escaping from the ship, sending an iris message to Chiron, almost dying because of a Monster Donut shop, they were able to get into another ship. Well, more like Clarisse came through like a knight in shining armour and pulled them in her ship.

"You are in so much trouble," Clarisse said.

They'd just finished a ship tour through dark rooms overcrowded with dead sailors. They'd seen the coal bunker, the boilers and engine, which huffed and groaned like it would explode any minute. Everywhere they went, dead Confederate sailors stared at them, their ghostly bearded faces shimmering over their skulls. 

Finally, they were escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen. 

"Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told them smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."

Y/N chuckled, "Oh we didn't think of THAT."

"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked.

"Course not. My father did."

"Ares?"

Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"

The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixed at them with a hungry stare. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."

Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."

Tyson gulped.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters-"

"Good! I'll blow him out of the water."

"You don't understand," Annabeth said. We have to combine forces. Let us help you-"

"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance."

"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you?"

"They didn't ... I let them stay behind. To protect the camp."

"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?"

"Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!"

"Clarisse," Percy said, "Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."

"No! I don't care what the Oracle-" She stopped herself.

Y/N smiled at her comment. Even Percy easily could make her say it. Just a little push, yeah she'll be mad, but her anger will come with the answers they were looking for.

"What?" Percy said. "What did the Oracle tell you?"

"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go..."

"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.

"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."

As they were on their way, Y/N walked beside Percy and said, "It's at the back of your mind, isn't it?"

"What is?" he asked.

"Grover and the Fleece is your main concern now, sure. But their conversation is still bothering you right?"

"...no. Weren't you mad at me?"

"Please, we almost died out there. I don't have the time to be mad about petty little fights," she cleared her throat, "Although, you better not repeat the mistake."

"Yeah okay."

"Oh and by the way, their conversation should bother you Percy. You are her boyfriend. It's normal to be...jealous of-"

"I wasn't jealous," he interrupted her in between, ears turning red.

"You totally were. Not knowing about a part of her life and experience with Luke bothers you."

"I was just uncomfortable. We are in a relationship, we just shouldn't have secrets. Why do you think we fight so much?"

"Cause there's still love for each other?" Y/N stared at him with an amused smile. He looked at her back and she turned to look at the front.

Percy stared at her smiling face. How was she still smiling like this? It brought a small smile to his face as well. He was glad about it though. Things were too serious and he needed someone to just...distract him for some time. Make him feel relaxed.

And she was good at it. He recalled her sleepy face early in the morning, all pouty and...cute. Annabeth would be mad if she heard him talk like that wouldn't she? To be honest though, somehow she was never mad when it came to the topic of Y/N. Y/N has just got some kind of a grip on her.

"You don't stare at people when they've angered you Percy," Y/N said, snapping him off his thoughts.

"I'm not angry."

"Yeah you totally are. Annabeth rubbed off on you, hasn't she? She stares at me when she's angry too."

"No just...thinking."

"About?"

Percy thought for a minute and spoke the first thing that came to his mind, "Are you and Harris close?"

"Uh yeah," she looked at him and saw the look in his eyes. It was strange. It was...curiosity? Was it? "I mean depends on what kind of close you are referring to," she said.

"What kind of close are you?" he asked. Percy was surprised hearing his own words. He was never the kind to speak without thinking first. But somehow this topic just...pulled him in. He wanted to know more.

"Um.." Y/N felt relieved when they arrived at the birth deck. The conversation was not so long but surely felt like one. "I'm going to sleep," she yawned and lied on her assigned hammock.

She didn't know why she was avoiding the topic in the first place. There should be no problem in telling him right? Some kind of embarrassment filled her chest. She was not yet ready to tell anyone when she wasn't sure herself. Ofcourse she could feel it.

The chemistry between Harris and herself.


	9. Chapter 9

Y/N walked up on the deck the next morning groggily, neck feeling a bit stiff. She looked at the open sea, and then observed Annabeth and Tyson. Taking out the bag Hermes left for her, she ruffled through it, trying to look for a balm.

"Yeah, I fixed your head when I woke up but I guess you slept the wrong way too long," Annabeth said.

"Thanks," Y/N yawned and closed her eyes, feeling the breeze.

"So...I overheard you and Percy talking yesterday. Are you and....Harris?" Annabeth cleared her throat and asked her.

"Woah, um-" Annabeth's words seemed to wake Y/N up properly. "Yeah," she chuckled, "I'm not so sure about that. I didn't exactly.."

"Well I think he kind of likes you. I mean..the way both of you look at each other?" Annabeth told.

"It's not the kind of feelings you guys have, if that's where you're going," Y/N said. If there was something she was confident about, it was her feelings for Percy. As for Harris, she won't deny that there isn't something but...it wasn't the same that she had for him. She hated to admit it but ofcourse, apart from the fact that Harris was a great friend, all these new stuffs with him was...just a distraction.

Annabeth blushed and looked at her, "I don't know. Percy and I are just not...I don't know. We don't have the thing that you guys have."

"Then clearly you guys have something more," Y/N chuckled and looked at her. Annabeth just stared at her for some time and said, "I know."

Y/N observed her expression but it felt...weird. Her eyes were not the same that Percy held when she came to know about his feelings. It's like...she wasn't content with what she had. It made her feel a bit bitter. She had what Y/N wanted to have but she just...

"I know you guys have fights and all but it will be fine soon. I mean, we have a lot of things going on right now. So you guys don't really have the time to be all lovey-dovey," Y/N sighed and sat down.

Annabeth on the other hand felt bad. Bad for keeping it from her. But, obviously, it was for their friendship right? It would make things worse if she told her friend that the 'I know' wasn't meant for Percy and herself. 

It was for the fact that she knew about Y/N's feelings.

The said boy arrived a moment later, followed by Clarisse. He walked towards Annabeth and held her hand. Y/N got up and excused herself saying she needed to use the washroom.

Clarisse grabbed a pair of binoculars from a zombie officer and peered toward the horizon. "At last. Captain, full steam ahead!"

They looked in the same direction as she was, but they couldn't see much. The sky was overcast. The air was hazy and humid, like steam from an iron. If they squinted real hard, I could just make out a couple of dark fuzzy splotches in the distance.

The engine groaned as they increased speed.

Tyson muttered nervously, "Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water."

After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead of us came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea-an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

"Hurricane?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Clarisse said. "Charybdis."

Annabeth paled. "Are you crazy?"

"Only way into the Sea of Monsters. Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla." Clarisse pointed to the top of the cliffs.

"What do you mean the only way?" Y/N asked, entering shortly after, "The sea is wide open! Just sail around them."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything? If I tried to sail around them, they would just appear in my path again. If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them."

"What about the Clashing Rocks?" Annabeth said. "That's another gateway. Jason used it."

"I can't blow apart rocks with my cannons," Clarisse said. "Monsters, on the other hand..."

"You are crazy," Annabeth decided.

"Watch and learn, Wise Girl." Clarisse turned to the captain. "Set course for Charybdis!"

"Aye, m'lady."

The engine groaned, the iron plating rattled, and the ship began to pick up speed.

"Clarisse," Percy said, "Charybdis sucks up the sea. Isn't that the story?"

"And spits it back out again, yeah."

"What about Scylla?"

"She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship."

"Choose Scylla then," he said. "Everybody goes below deck and we chug right past."

"No!" Clarisse insisted. "If Scylla doesn't get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship. Besides, she's too high to make a good target. My cannons can't shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there at the center of her whirlwind. We're going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus!"

She said it with such relish Y/N almost wanted to believe her.

_Almost._

* * *

Yeah, Clarisse plan was a fail. The boiler room got overheated and led to a blast.

The worst part was that Tyson being a Cyclops went down there to fix it, because of being immune to fire but it didn't work out. Annabeth got a lifeboat ready and used Hermes' Thermos. She managed to get Y/N and Percy out in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric. 

Y/N woke up a while after and felt a terrible headache. She squinted as Annabeth sat next to her, tacking into the wind, telling her to rest a bit more since she just made her drink Ambrosia.

"Uh..thank you. Where...how did you find me?" Y/N asked in a weak voice.

"I just found you floating after searching for a while." 

After she felt a bit better, she immediately worked on her group healing technique. Well, it drained her out of energy, so Annabeth advised her to get some sleep again. 

Moments later Percy tried to sit up and immediately felt woozy. He noticed Annabeth next to him.

And Y/N...lying behind him. He turned slowly and looked at her face, light dark circles appeared on her face. His gaze softened as he thought about their dumb fight back in camp. Maybe it was better if they didn't bring her along. She didn't want to come anyway right?

"Rest," Annabeth said. "You're going to need it."

"Tyson...?"

She shook her head. "Percy, I'm really sorry."

They were silent while the waves tossed us up and down.

"He may have survived," she said halfheartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."

Percy nodded, but he had no reason to feel hopeful. He'd seen that explosion rip through solid iron. If Tyson had been down in the boiler room, there was no way he could've lived.

Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed him some things she'd salvaged from the wreckage-Hermes's thermos (now empty), a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper. Most of his stuff had floated away, but he still had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins, and of course he had Riptide. The ballpoint pen always appeared back in his pocket no matter where he lost it.

Percy was about to call Y/N when Annabeth interrupted and said, "Don't wake her up. She healed us. Let her get some rest."

He suddenly felt angry and said, "Well, why did you let her? Clearly she was injured right?"

"Don't tell me I volunteered for this! You think I didn't tell her?!" Annabeth replied.

"She was weak so you could've just shut her mouth or something!" 

SMACK!

Percy looked at the hand that hit his face. "Gosh, do you guys ever talk normally?" Y/N muttered weakly, "Who do you think Annabeth is to stop me from doing what I want?"

Annabeth looked a bit amused and offended. Percy stared at Y/N's face, her eyes still closed as he observed her hands moving towards his own. She held his hand lightly and said, "I'm fine. Just don't kill each other when I'm sleeping."

Percy cracked a small smile and looked forward at the sea, leaving her hand placed on his own.

They sailed for hours. Now that they were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like Hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too-as if a thunderstorm were coming. Or something even more dangerous. Percy knew what direction we needed to go. He knew that they were exactly one hundred thirteen nautical miles west by northwest of the destination. But that didn't make him feel any less lost.

No matter which way they turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into their eyes. They took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading ourselves with the sail as best they could. And they talked about my latest dream of Grover.

By Annabeth's estimate, they had less than twenty-four hours to find Grover, assuming his dream was accurate, and assuming the Cyclops Polyphemus didn't change his mind and try to marry Grover earlier.

"Yeah," Percy said bitterly. "You can never trust a Cyclops."

Annabeth stared across the water. "I'm sorry, Percy. I was wrong about Tyson, okay? I wish I could tell him that."

Percy tried to stay mad at her, but it wasn't easy. They'd been through a lot together. She'd saved my life plenty of times. He felt Y/N's finger tap his hand, almost like she was...trying to make him feel better. 

And herself too. Well, she was probably the only one who acknowledged Tyson.

"Annabeth, what's Chiron's prophecy?"

She pursed her lips. "Percy, I shouldn't-"

"I know Chiron promised the gods he wouldn't tell me. But you didn't promise, did you?"

"Knowledge isn't always good for you."

"Your mom is the wisdom goddess!"

"I know! But every time heroes learn the future, they try to change it, and it never works."

"The gods are worried about something I'll do when I get older," Percy guessed, "Something when I turn eighteen."

Annabeth twisted her Yankees cap in her hands. "Percy, I don't know the full prophecy, but it warns about a half-blood child of the Big Three-the next one who lives to the age of eighteen. That's the real reason Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three who reaches sixteen will be a dangerous weapon."

"Why?"

"Because that hero will decide the fate of Olympus. He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it."

Percy let that sink in. "That's why Kronos didn't kill me last summer."

She nodded. "You could be very useful to him. If he can get you on his side, the gods will be in serious trouble."

"But if it's me in the prophecy-"

"We'll only know that if you survive three more years. That can be a long time for a half-blood. When Chiron first learned about Thalia, he assumed she was the one in the prophecy. That's why he was so desperate to get her safely to camp. Then she went down fighting and got turned into a pine tree and none of us knew what to think. Until you came along."

On their port side, a spiky green dorsal fin about fifteen feet long curled out of the water and disappeared.

"This kid in the prophecy...he or she couldn't be like, a Cyclops?" Percy asked. "The Big Three have lots of monster children."

Annabeth shook her head. "The Oracle said 'half-blood.' That always means half-human, half-god. There's really nobody alive who it could be, except you."

"Then why do the gods even let me live? It would be safer to kill me."

"You're right."

"Thanks a lot."

"Percy, I don't know. I guess some of the gods would like to kill you, but they're probably afraid of offending Poseidon. Other gods...maybe they're still watching you, trying to decide what kind of hero you're going be. You could be a weapon for their survival, after all. The real question is...what will you do in three years? What decision will you make?"

"Did the prophecy give any hints?"

Annabeth hesitated. Maybe she would've told him more, but just then a seagull swooped down out of nowhere and landed on their makeshift mast. Annabeth looked startled as the bird dropped a small cluster of leaves into her lap.

"Land," she said. "There's land nearby!"


	10. Chapter 10

Sure enough, there was a line of blue and brown in the distance. Another minute and they could make out an island with a small mountain in the center, a dazzling white collection of buildings, a beach dotted with palm trees, and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats. The current was pulling their rowboat toward what looked like a tropical paradise.

"Welcome!" said the lady with the clipboard. She looked like a flight attendant-blue business suit, perfect makeup, hair pulled back in a ponytail. She shook their hands as they stepped onto the dock.

With the dazzling smile she gave them, anyone would've thought they'd just gotten off the Princess Andromeda rather than a banged-up rowboat.

"This feels weird guys," Y/N muttered.

Then again, their rowboat wasn't the weirdest ship in port. Along with a bunch of pleasure yachts, there was a U.S. Navy submarine, several dugout canoes, and an old-fashioned three-masted sailing ship. There was a helipad with a "Channel Five Fort Lauderdale" helicopter on it, and a short runway with a Learjet and a propeller plane that looked like a World War II fighter. Maybe they were replicas for tourists to look at or something.

"Is this your first time with us?" the clipboard lady inquired.

The half-bloods exchanged looks. Annabeth said, "Umm..."

"First-time-at-spa," the lady said as she wrote on her clipboard. "Let's see..."

She looked them up and down critically. "Mmm. An herbal wrap to start for the young ladies. And of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."

"A what?" Percy asked.

She was too busy jotting down notes to answer.

"Right!" She said with a breezy smile. "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to speak with you personally before the luau. Come, please."

Now here's the thing. They were used to traps, and usually those traps looked good at first. So it was expected that the clipboard lady would turn into a snake or a demon, or something, any minute. But on the other hand, they'd been floating in a rowboat for most of the day. They were hot, tired, and hungry, and when this lady mentioned a luau, their stomach sat up on its hind legs and begged like a dog.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Annabeth muttered.

"What are you-" Y/N stopped talking and noticed her star struck friends. Of course it was dangerous, but they followed the lady anyway.

They came into a big room where the whole front wall was windows. The back wall was covered in mirrors, so the room seemed to go on forever. There was a bunch of expensive-looking white furniture, and on a table in one corner was a large wire pet cage. They saw a lady who'd been singing.

She sat at a loom the size of a big screen TV, her hands weaving colored thread back and forth with amazing skill.

Annabeth caught her breath. "It's beautiful."

The woman turned. She was even prettier than her fabric. Her long dark hair was braided with threads of gold. She had piercing green eyes and she wore a silky black dress with shapes that seemed to move in the fabric: animal shadows, black upon black, like deer running through a forest at night.

"You appreciate weaving, my dear?" the woman asked.

"Oh, yes, ma'am!" Annabeth said. "My mother is-"

She stopped herself. You couldn't just go around announcing that your mom was Athena, the goddess who invented the loom. 

The hostess just smiled. "You have good taste, my dear. I'm so glad you've come. My name is C.C."

The animals in the corner cage started squealing. They must've been guinea pigs, from the sound of them.

They introduced themselves to C.C. "Oh, dear," she sighed. "You do need my help."

"Ma'am?" Percy asked.

C.C. called to the lady in the business suit. "Hylla, take Annabeth and Y/N on a tour, will you? Show them what we have available. The clothing will need to change. And the hair, my goodness. We will do a full image consultation after I've spoken with this young gentleman."

"But..." Annabeth's voice sounded hurt. "What's wrong with my hair?"

Y/N though, found this lady extremely suspicious. She couldn't understand how both of her friends were believing her in the first place. She thought, it might've been the effect of her song. Did her music do something to them?

C.C. smiled benevolently and answered Annabeth, "My dear, you are lovely. Really! But you're not showing off yourself or your talents at all. So much wasted potential!"

"Wasted?"

"Well, surely you're not happy the way you are! My goodness, there's not a single person who is. But don't worry. We can improve anyone here at the spa. Hylla will show you what I mean. You, my dear, need to unlock your true self!"

Annabeth's eyes glowed with longing. Y/N tried her best to control the frown on her face. Yes, somehow she felt like she should believe her words...but this was just plain rude. Annabeth was by far, the prettiest girl she met, even without any makeup or skincare routine. She didn't need someone unknown to tell her that she has to unlock her true self. But she decided to observe them. She needed to know the kind of plan the lady had under her sleeves. 

"But...what about Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, definitely," C.C. said, giving him a sad look. "Percy requires my personal attention. He needs much more work than you."

"Well..." Annabeth said. "I suppose..."

"Right this way, dear," Hylla said. And the girls allowed themselves to be led away into the waterfall-laced gardens of the spa.

Y/N turned back to look at Percy, hoping that he would just look at her for once but...his eyes were glued on the lady.

* * *

The place was lovely, no doubt in it. It makes you feel like you need a makeover and look better. Y/N didn't want to participate in anything until one of them suggested a relaxing bath. Well, she did feel the need to relax and wanted to get energized as soon as possible. She had a fair idea that it was wrong but...it was tempting.

When she was done, and dried up, she got dressed with what the ladies kept for her. She came out of the bathroom and realized that the whole room was empty.

 _Annabeth_.

Her heart sank thinking about it. Ofcourse, she should've resisted the temptation. Annabeth already looked a bit out of it and they took the opportunity to take her god knows where. She knew she had to keep her act together, and so she did. She stepped out with her bag, wishing to get just a glance of that golden hair. Deciding that it would be better to team up, she went towards the room she last saw Percy. A sense of fear and guilt took over her.

Because if they did something to him as well...then that's it. She'd have to search for them alone, knowing the whole time that she had a faint idea of what was going on.

When she almost reached, C.C and her attendants ran past her from the room, chased by some pirates. But strangely no one paid attention to her. Her heart raced as she took out her bow and arrow, and slowly approached the room. She quietly knelt outside the door and drew an arrow, trying to get a glance of the people or even monsters in the room that she has to tackle. But to her relief she heard familiar voices speaking.

"Thanks...I'm really sorry-"

"I'm glad you're not a guinea pig."

"Me, too." 

Y/N kept her bow and arrow back and entered the room. Annabeth and Percy were hugging, and she pulled away quickly. She undid the golden braids.

"Oh uh sorry, wrong timing," Y/N muttered, avoiding the stinging feeling in her heart. 

"No, you are here on the right time. Looks like you got saved...from the excessive makeup that I had to endure." Annabeth said.

It made Percy finally take in her appearance. Y/N was standing wearing a dress, her hair open and her face ofcourse. There was...something different. He couldn't understand what it was but it would be a lie if he didn't admit that she looked.... _breathtaking_. As he stared at her longer, he noticed a faint blush covering her cheeks. Her hair tickled her face, that she quickly tried to put behind her ears. 

Y/N first of all felt like an animal in a zoo with the way Percy was staring. It felt like she did something really wrong and he was just being decent enough to keep quiet about it. She cleared her throat and got out of the room. Her mind went back when she interrupted them. Well, that was it. She decided that he was staring because he was pissed about her interrupting them.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, "We have to get away while Circe's distracted."

They ran down the hillside through the terraces, past screaming spa workers and pirates ransacking the resort. Blackbeard's men broke the tiki torches for the luau, threw herbal wraps into the swimming pool, and kicked over tables of sauna towels.

"Which ship?" Annabeth said as they reached the docks.

Percy looked around desperately. They couldn't very well take the rowboat again.

"There," he said.

Annabeth blinked. "But-"

"I can make it work."

"How?"

"Because he's the Son of Poseidon. Now come on!" They rushed towards the three-mast ship. Painted on its prow was the name that they would only decipher later: Queen Anne's Revenge.

"Argggh!" Blackbeard yelled somewhere behind, "Those scalawags are aboarding me vessel! Get 'em, lads!"

"We'll never get going in time!" Annabeth yelled as they climbed aboard.

Percy looked around at the hopeless maze of sail and ropes. The ship was in great condition for a three-hundred-year-old vessel, but it would still take a crew of fifty several hours to get underway. They didn't have several hours. He could see the pirates running down the stairs, waving tiki torches and sticks of celery.

He felt Y/N's hand clutch his own as she said in a calm tone, "You know what to do." He sighed and looked at the water. Ofcourse.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the waves lapping against the hull, the ocean currents, the winds all around him. Suddenly, the right word appeared in his mind. "Mizzenmast!" he yelled.

In the next second, the air was filled with whistling sounds of ropes being snapped taut, canvases unfurling, and wooden pulleys creaking. Annabeth ducked as a cable flew over her head and wrapped itself around the bowsprit. "Percy, how..."

He didn't have an answer, but he felt the ship responding to him as if it was a part of his body. He willed the sails to rise as easily as if he was flexing my arm. He willed the rudder to turn.

The Queen Anne's Revenge lurched away from the dock, and by the time the pirates arrived at the water's edge, they were already underway, sailing into the Sea of Monsters.

With a relieved smile on his face he turned to look at Y/N, who was looking at the pirates. She turned towards him and gave him a small smile, and returned her gaze back to the sea. He didn't realize how long his eyes stayed on the girl.

But Annabeth did.


	11. Chapter 11

Percy finally found something he was really good at. The Queen Anne's Revenge responded to his every command.

But now that they were out of danger, all he could think about was how much he missed Tyson, and how worried he was about Grover.

They sailed through the night.

Annabeth and Y/N tried to help him keep lookout, but sailing didn't agree with them. After a few hours rocking back and forth, their face turned the color of guacamole and went below to lie in a bed.

They watched the horizon. More than once they spotted monsters. A plume of water as tall as a skyscraper spewed into the moonlight. A row of green spines slithered across the waves-something maybe a hundred feet long, reptilian. Well, they didn't really want to know.

Sometime after midnight, Annabeth came up on deck. They were just passing a smoking volcano island. The sea bubbled and steamed around the shore.

"One of the forges of Hephaestus," Annabeth said. "Where he makes his metal monsters."

"Like the bronze bulls?"

She nodded. "Go around. Far around."

He didn't need to be told twice. They steered clear of the island, and soon it was just a red patch of haze behind them.

Percy looked at Y/N for a moment, maybe thinking if he should really brush on the topic. And decided to do it. He asked Annabeth, "The reason you hate Cyclopes so much ... the story about how Thalia really died. What happened?"

It was hard to see her expression in the dark.

"I guess you guys...deserve to know," she said finally, and turned to Y/N, "You more than anyone else. The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. You remember he told you that once?" She told them the whole thing.

"I stabbed him in the foot." she said finishing her story.

They stared at her. Percy broke the silence, "Are you kidding? You were seven years old and you stabbed a grown Cyclops in the foot?"

"Oh, he would've killed me. But I surprised him. It gave me just enough time to run to Thalia and cut the ropes on her hands. She took it from there."

"Yeah, but still ... that was pretty brave, Annabeth."

"Yeah, I mean seven year old me was still figuring out how to spell correctly," Y/N said and then chuckled, "I still do."

Annabeth shook her head. "We barely got out alive. I still have nightmares. The way that Cyclops talked in my father's voice. It was his fault we took so long getting to camp. All the monsters who'd been chasing us had time to catch up. That's really why Thalia died. If it hadn't been for that Cyclops, she'd still be alive today."

They sat on the deck, watching the Hercules constellation rise in the night sky.

"Go below," Annabeth told him at last. "You need some rest."

He nodded. His eyes were heavy. But when he got below and found a bed, it took him a long time to fall asleep. He kept thinking about Annabeth's story. He wondered, if he were in her place, would he have had enough courage to go on this quest, to sail straight toward the lair of another Cyclops?

He didn't dream about Grover. Instead he found himself back in Luke's stateroom aboard the Princess Andromeda. 

Y/N stayed awake with Annabeth.

"Hey..I've got to tell you something," Annabeth said sitting beside her.

"Please, if this is about Harris again-"

"It not him," Annabeth interrupted, "It's...Percy."

"..Percy?" Y/N felt a bit shocked considering Annabeth never really asked her about him ever since they got together, "You need some relationship advice?"

"No it's not that," she chuckled, almost bitterly, "How do I say this...um, please don't misunderstand me."

"Well, depends on what you're about to say to be honest."

"Uh...I know about.." Annabeth cleared her throat, hoping the words would come out easily, but it felt like a thorn stuck in her throat instead, "I know about your feelings...for him."

Y/N felt fear slowly taking over her. She didn't know anything that could make things right between them now. This was Annabeth. She wasn't as easy to fool as Percy.

"D-don't panic. There's nothing to be worried about. I just wanted you to know," Annabeth tried to reassure her.

"How...did you find out?" she asked.

"I just knew it. I mean, your whole body language around him is different. With Harris you're quite open but him. You maintain a distance," Annabeth explained, "I don't know how to explain it. But we have been friends for sometime so I think I just knew it."

"Then do you know how long I've had these feelings for?"

Annabeth kept quiet. Suddenly the atmosphere felt heavier. Y/N was feeling many things all at once. A sense of fear that their friendship might change. A sense of guilt for liking her boyfriend. But she understood what she felt the most at the moment when Annabeth felt nauseous and ran towards the railing, bending down and puking out. 

Y/N was hurt and angry. It felt sick to know that her first friend in the camp knew about everything but still decided to do it anyway. But apart from her feelings, her brain was still working. She wanted to believe that Annabeth couldn't throw it all away when they don't have a guaranteed long life. And maybe it was better since Percy wasn't heartbroken. They looked good together like everyone said, right?

She got up and walked towards Annabeth who was emptying her stomach, and offered her a bottle of water. "Sorry. I don't have control over it yet," she said.

Annabeth took the water bottle as Y/N sat down again, looking at the sky. Hearing hurried footsteps, she saw Annabeth run down. A part of her was scared that maybe she went there to tell Percy what she did to her. But well, her friend wasn't heartless...in most cases. She got up after a while when the boy came up on the deck.

"Land," Annabeth informed, "We're approaching the island of the Sirens." There was no time to be bitter about it when lives were at stake on their quest.

They could barely make out the island ahead -just a dark spot in the mist.

"I want you to do me a favor," Annabeth said, "The Sirens ... we'll be in range of their singing soon."

Y/N remembered stories about the Sirens. They sang so sweetly their voices enchanted sailors and lured them to their death.

"No problem," Percy assured her. "We can just stop up our ears. There's a big tub of candle wax below deck-" Y/N immediately ran down to get it. 

"I want to hear them."

Percy blinked. "Why?"

"They say the Sirens sing the truth about what you desire. They tell you things about yourself you didn't even realize. That's what's so enchanting. If you survive ... you become wiser. I want to hear them. How often will I get that chance?"

Coming from most people, this would've made no sense. But Annabeth being who she was-well, if she could struggle through Ancient Greek architecture books and enjoy documentaries on the History Channel, the Sirens would appeal to her, too.

As Y/N was ready with the tub, Annabeth told them her plan. Reluctantly, they helped her get ready. Her plan made Y/N think about it too.

As soon as the rocky coastline of the island came into view, Percy ordered one of the ropes to wrap around Annabeth's waist, and on Y/N's request, her waist too, tying them to the foremast. Y/N wanted to hear the siren sing. She was just worried she would be tempted to see what she desired the most. As a lover of music, she wanted to know how they sound.

"Don't untie me," Annabeth said, "no matter what happens or how much I plead. I'll want to go straight over the edge and drown myself."

"Are you trying to tempt me?"

"Ha-ha."

Percy promised to keep them secure. Then he took two large wads of candle wax, kneaded them into earplugs, and stuffed his ears. He did the same for Y/N, promising her to let her listen just a little bit.

The silence was eerie. He couldn't hear anything but the rush of blood in his head. As they approached the island, jagged rocks loomed out of the fog. He willed the Queen Anne's Revenge to skirt around them. If they sailed any closer, those rocks would shred their hull like blender blades.

Percy glanced back. Y/N had her eyes closed. And as for his girlfriend, at first, Annabeth seemed totally normal. Then she got a puzzled look on her face. Her eyes widened.

She strained against the ropes. She called their name. Her expression was clear: She had to get out. This was life or death. She seemed so miserable it was hard not to cut her free.

Percy forced himself to look away. He urged the Queen Anne's Revenge to go faster.

He still couldn't see much of the island-just mist and rocks-but floating in the water were pieces of wood and fiberglass, the wreckage of old ships, even some flotation cushions from airplanes.

How could music cause so many lives to veer off course? I mean, sure, there were some Top Forty songs that made him want to take a fiery nosedive, but still ... What could the Sirens possibly sing about?

For one dangerous moment, he understood Y/N's curiosity. He was tempted to take out the earplugs, just to get a taste of the song. He could feel the Sirens' voices vibrating in the timbers of the ship, pulsing along with the roar of blood in his ears.

Annabeth was pleading. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She strained against the ropes, as if they were holding her back from everything she cared about.

"How could you be so cruel?", she seemed to be asking him, "I thought you were my friend."

Percy glared at the misty island. He wanted to uncap his sword, but there was nothing to fight. How do you fight a song? He tried hard not to look at Annabeth. And managed it for about five minutes.

When he couldn't stand it any longer, he looked back and found ... Y/N struggling to get out of her ropes. She somehow managed to pull off her earplugs. Beside her was a heap of cut ropes. An empty mast. Annabeth's bronze knife lay on the deck. Somehow, she'd managed to wriggle it into her hand. He'd totally forgotten to disarm her. He kicked off the knife away from Y/N's reach and rushed to the side of the boat and saw Annabeth, paddling madly for the island, the waves carrying her straight toward the jagged rocks.

He screamed her name, but if she heard him, it didn't do any good. She was entranced, swimming toward her death.

He looked back at the pilot's wheel and yelled, "Stay!" Percy noticed Y/N now banging her head and trying her best to get out, reaching out for any sharp object that might help her.

"Maybe if she screamed loud enough, she'll stop hearing the sirens sing," he thought to himself, looking at her and then jumped over the side, slicing into the water, leaving his devastated restless friend on the ship. 

* * *

They stayed underwater, following the ship, until Percy judged that the voices of the sirens must be faint now. Then he surfaced and their air bubble popped. He was already thinking of the worst possible scenario with Y/N. But he didn't feel her drop off the ship into the sea so, he had some hope that she was still up there. His heart was slamming on his chest as his mind was only focused on her condition. 

He ordered a rope ladder to drop over the side of the ship, and they climbed aboard. He kept his earplugs in, just to be sure. As he reached up on the deck, Annabeth sat down huddled in a blanket on the forward deck, ears shut with the candle-wax like Percy. He searched for Y/N and found her lying near the edge, slowly crawling towards the sea, her forehead and hands bleeding. She was still in a daze with tears streaming down her face and staring at the sirens' direction. She looked tired but still determined. Percy hurriedly went to her, noticing the broken and other stuffs on the ship. Just like he expected, she did use her voice. How she got out and injured herself was still a mystery to him.

He picked up her crawling body, and forced her to face him, trying to reassure her. But he couldn't get his words out at first. After a moment, he finally focused on her expression. She looked broken. She wasn't exactly as energetic as Annabeth. Maybe she probably used all of her energy to get out. "Let me go, please..." she muttered, hands tightly holding onto his shirt, "I'm only asking you for one little thing. I-I never.."

Percy wished they could get out of the island's reach faster. It broke his heart to find her this way. He didn't even have the courage to refuse her. How could he? He never saw her this way. She was always smiling, the ray of light among them. So he took another path instead. "Shh...hey, hey, just focus on me," he said, "I'll take you there. You just...need to close your eyes and trust me."

"...Trust you?", she said. He slowly pulled her up as her eyes focused on his sea-green ones. "No...you're lying."

She started struggling trying to get away from him. He was just glad that she was way to focused on the sirens to use her powers on him. He sighed looking at her. It wasn't gonna work this way.

"Sorry Y/N," he said and grabbed her from behind, pushing her to walk down where he would probably have to knock her out if the situation got out of hand. On the way though, Y/N started using all her strength, trying to make him stop. She whined, feeling too weak to scream. As they got near her bed, he pushed her down, as she struggled to get out. His knees separated her legs apart. He didn't exactly want to get kicked down there in all of this. Finally looking at her face, he felt her grow weaker each second, she stopped struggling and bit his left arm which were holding onto hers. Percy shouted out a curse and removed his hand.

Big mistake.

Y/N knew how to defend herself even using her one hand. She immediately stuck up her hand and dug her thumb in his left eye. He slapped her hand back down and finally she stopped moving completely, only tears streaming down her face. Her face was red for all the crying. 

_Oh_.

He realized how close they were at the moment. He needs to stop her from crying anymore. He...wanted to. Slowly, he bent down near her face, until their foreheads were touching. She looked at him and cried, "You lied to me." She still didn't care about how close they were, their noses were touching now. It felt like she was finally going to drop off to sleep.

"Sorry," he said and tilted his head. He looked at her face and found that she finally stopped crying. Her eyes were full of curiosity staring at his small movements, and her lips trembling. 

He couldn't get out of it. There was no voice of any siren drawing him in, but he still gave into the temptation.

And kissed her. It felt like time had slowed down and the sound of sea waves felt clearer than before. The sun shone brighter and he could hear the whistles of the wind. He could feel it. They were finally out of sight of the island.

He pulled back and looked at her face. Her eyes were closed, and body still. She finally gave in to exhaustion and fell asleep. And an alarm rang in his mind, he shot up from her bed and stared at her. The realization dawned on him about what he did. A sense of fear took over him, along with some guilt. But then he remembered what he saw when he touched Annabeth.

Brushing his hair in annoyance, he walked back up on the deck. Annabeth looked up, dazed and sad, and mouthed, safe. "You could've just used wax to shut her ears, you know," she said.

"And you could've offered me some after you put it on. She was near the edge. You really think I had the time to look for it?" Percy said, his voice laced in irritation.

Annabeth muttered, "...you saw it, didn't you."

"Yes," he turned to look away into the sea, "Atleast patch her up. We'll talk about it later."

Annabeth nodded silently and went down.

Percy sat down sighing. He thought about what he did moments ago. How was he any better than her? Oh wait, yes. It happened cause it was the only way to stop Y/N as words were useless against her anyway.

He shook his head and tried to think of something else. A distraction.


	12. Chapter 12

Y/N woke up shortly afterwards, when there were only faint traces of the Siren's island. She slowly walked up, feeling a light headache.

Squinting her eyes at the rays of the sun, she looked around the deck and found her two friends sitting apart - both having dull faces. Unable to figure out what to do, she walked towards Annabeth who looked a bit teared up.

"Hey.."

"Oh hi," Annabeth sighed, "How are you feeling?"

"I have a bit of a headache but...I'm fine. What.." she looked back and forth between Annabeth and Percy, "happened?"

"Nothing...just," Annabeth cleared her throat and replied, "uh..."

Y/N realized that she wasn't yet ready to talk about it, and decided to change the topic, "You patched me up?"

"Yeah, gave you some Ambrosia. How did you even manage to hurt yourself?"

"I used my voice ofcourse. I used the vibrations to make any kind of stuff come near me so that I can get out. Didn't work out that well when one thick wooden stick hit my head outta nowhere," Y/N chuckled.

"Hm..I'm glad nothing excessive happened," Annabeth said with a small smile on her face, her eyes turned towards the brunet sitting alone, "I think..you should go talk to Percy. You bit him pretty hard."

"I did?" she looked towards the boy sitting quietly and looking towards the sea, "Okay I'll be right back."

Y/N walked and sat down beside him, "Did you guys have a fight again?"

"...yeah?" he muttered, "How...are you feeling?"

"I'm good. But she told me..I bit you or something. Sorry.." Y/N's eyes wandered at his hands, trying to get a look at it.

He sighed and held his wrist out towards her, eyes still fixed on the sea. Percy heard a tiny gasp coming out of the girl beside him. He couldn't gather up the courage to look at her. Whatever he did, they were going to talk about it at some point of time. He just wasn't ready yet.

Y/N held his wrist and placed her palm over the bitten area, humming a tune in a soft voice. Percy, hearing her sing for the first time to him, shot his head and looked over at her. "You shouldn't push yourself," he said.

Ignoring his statement, she continued humming the tune with her eyes closed. Well, it worked well for the both of them. Percy could look at her without feeling uncomfortable and she felt a bit of warmth spreading through her heart. Maybe it was for just a little amount of time, but the silence was comforting. As soon as she was done she looked at him and said, "Sorry. I thought the ropes were enough to stop me."

"You looked awful Y/N," he said turning back to the sea, "Don't make me do....these stuffs again."

"I'm sure Annabeth put up a good fight," she chuckled, "she wasn't as easy to tackle as I was huh?"

"No," his voice turned low, and he looked at her with a strange expression on his face. Something she wasn't able to comprehend, "You....were harder to tackle."

"Hey!" they heard Annabeth's voice behind them. They looked at the direction she was looking at.

Up ahead was another blotch of land-a saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows. Percy's nautical senses confirmed it. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west.

They'd reached the home of the Cyclops.

* * *

When you think "monster island," you think craggy rocks and bones scattered on the beach like the island of the Sirens.

The Cyclops's island was nothing like that. It had a rope bridge across a chasm, which was not a good sign. But except for that, the place looked like a Caribbean postcard. It had green fields and tropical fruit trees and white beaches. As they sailed toward the shore, Annabeth breathed in the sweet air. "The Fleece," she said.

In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge-the size of hippos. Just past them was a path that led up into the hills. At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was the massive oak tree Percy'd seen in his dreams. Something gold glittered in its branches.

"This is too easy," he said. "We could just hike up there and take it?"

"How.." Y/N squinted her eyes in irritation, "How do you never learn that if it looks easy then there's probably a trap somewhere?"

Percy sighed, "Well, I can atleast hope right? I mean that's mostly you all the time."

"Yeah, cause hope is going great for me," Y/N muttered absentmindedly. Percy looked at her strangely, his brows furrowing for a moment before he shook his head and concentrated on the fleece. 

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "There's supposed be a guardian. A dragon or..."

No. It wasn't a dragon, but something that normally they would've overlooked if they weren't half-blood experiencing traps on their path every quest.

"Great," Y/N gulped down nervously, "flesh eating sheep."

"They're like piranhas," she said, as they saw the flock of sheep clearing up a deer in minutes and leaving it's bones in it's place.

"Piranhas with wool. How will we-"

"Percy!" Annabeth gasped, grabbing his arm. "Look."

She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run around... the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.

There was no way they could get past the man-eating sheep.

Besides, their first job was to find Grover and whoever had come ashore in that lifeboat-assuming they'd gotten past the sheep. Y/N wasn't so sure about the lifeboat though. No way can a person come here and survive past those sheep. Percy was too nervous to say what he was secretly hoping...that Tyson might still be alive.

They climbed a cliff away from the sheep and the ledge they were sitting on was narrower than they'd realized. It dropped off on the opposite side, and that's where a voice was coming from-right below them. Clarisse was hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water and Grover was wearing a wedding dress. Ofcourse, it didn't go down smoothly considering how Clarisse's loud mouth and small brain can comprehend situations. Soon enough, Polyphemus found out Grover's true identity.

But they still had a bit of time to escape. Even though the turn of events weren't all that nice.

But it did feel nice to Y/N considering the amount of times she had to get punished for fighting with Clarisse and get punished alone. 

Now, Grover was supposed to be the Cyclops' dinner while Clarisse was going to be the bride.

A small grin covered her face. Percy looked at her expression and with an amused expression he whispered, "You're loving this, aren't you?"

"I don't even know when I'll get the chance to see her like this again. Give me a break," Y/N chuckled, feeling his eyes on her. She didn't want to overthink when there was this whole thing going on but she couldn't help but ask a question to herself. She just hoped that she didn't do anything weird while she was watching those sirens. A blush covered her cheeks thinking about it. 

That's right.

He was there along with her parents, wasn't he? That's what she saw when she heard those sirens. Her parents in a good neighbourhood, living in a nice house.

And Percy. Sitting with her mother, father, papa and having dinner together. Her mind then came back to the question.

Wasn't Percy staring at her more than he did before?


	13. Chapter 13

"Trickery," Annabeth decided. "We can't beat him by force, so we'll have to use trickery."

"Okay," Percy said. "What trick?'

"I haven't figured that part out yet."

"Great."

"Shut up, she's thinking!" Y/N scolded.

"Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside." Annabeth told.

"At sunset," Percy said. "Which is when he'll marry Clarisse and have Grover for dinner. I'm not sure which is grosser."

"I could get inside," she said, "invisibly. And Y/N could climb up a tree as a backup incase."

"What about me?"

"The sheep," Annabeth mused. She gave him one of those sly looks that always made him wary. "How much do you like sheep?"

"Just don't let go!" Annabeth said, standing invisibly somewhere off to his right.

That was Annabeth's idea. Percy had sneak in and he was going to do that by hiding under a sheep, hanging onto it's thick wool. It wasn't that harsh on the sheep because of it's huge size and it had enough wool for Percy to tie it around his hands and make a handle out of it.

The sun was going down. The flock dutifully began trudging back up the slopes toward the cave on the Cyclops' command.

"This is it!" Annabeth whispered. "I'll be close by. Don't worry."

Percy made a silent promise to the gods that if he survived this, he'd tell Annabeth she was a genius. The frightening thing was, he knew the gods would hold him to it.

And just like that, he was in the cave.

Percy could see the last of the sheep coming inside. If Annabeth didn't pull off her distraction soon...

The Cyclops was about to roll the stone back into place, when from somewhere outside Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly!"

Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?"

"Nobody!" Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage.

"Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!"

"You're too stupid to remember anybody," Annabeth taunted. "Much less Nobody."

Polyphemus bellowed furiously, grabbed the nearest boulder (which happened to be his front door) and threw it toward the sound of Annabeth's voice. The rock smashed into a thousand fragments. Y/N quietly watched the Cyclops move around furiously from down the hill, her aim was ready. If by chance Annabeth got caught, she would use her arrow to attack him. It would surely give her some time to escape. And she really hoped Percy would also be done by then.

For a terrible moment, there was silence. Then Annabeth shouted, "You haven't learned to throw any better, either!"

Polyphemus howled. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!"

"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," she taunted. "Come find me!"

Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice, closing towards where Y/N hid.

Now, the "Nobody" thing wouldn't have made sense to anybody, but if explained properly it would definitely pass as a brilliant idea. It was the name Odysseus had used to trick Polyphemus centuries ago, right before he poked the Cyclops's eye out with a large hot stick. Annabeth had figured Polyphemus would still have a grudge about that name, and she was right. In his frenzy to find his old enemy, he forgot about resealing the cave entrance. Apparently, he didn't even stop to consider that Annabeth's voice was female, whereas the first Nobody had been male. On the other hand, he'd wanted to marry Grover, so he couldn't have been all that bright about the whole male/female thing.

What probably felt like a few minutes for Percy, felt like hours to Annabeth and Y/N. She continued distracting him while he threw boulders at her. Y/N had to jump to another tree once, as his rock almost hit her. She was drawing an arrow for too long, her muscles were starting to ache. All of a sudden she heard an explosion, followed by a scream. It was Annabeth crying out in fear.

"I got Nobody!" Polyphemus gloated.

The Cyclops, grinning wickedly, holding up empty air. The monster shook his fist, and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground. There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.

"Hah!" the Cyclops said. "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!"

Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Y/N immediately shot an arrow at him which got stuck on his shoulder.

She wasn't exactly aiming for his head. That was the problem. Why was she hesitating to kill someone? Percy and Annabeth could've done this in the blink of an eye. She hesitated for a moment and shot two arrows in a row - on his arm and leg. He shouted in anger and opened up his fist, hands going straight to take out the arrows.

She saw Annabeth drop down on her back, and wincing in pain. Polyphemus seemed to notice her again and tried to grab her.

Y/N this time shot another arrow at him, shouting his name. It caught his attention, while Annabeth immediately put on her cap, and got invisible again. Annabeth was safe.

But now she wasn't . The Cyclops noticed her, and even with her quick reflexes, she could only jump from one branch to another. Soon enough Polyphemus got a hold of her.

"Nobody!" he shouted. Clearly he had difficulty in recognising with one of his eye. As Y/N was struggling to get out of his grip and thrashing around.

"I'll rush him," Percy whispered to Clarisse. Hearing Annabeth's scream they rushed out of the cave. Ofcourse, Y/N successfully took care of it and managed to protect Annabeth, but then they saw her getting caught as well. A sense of desperation covered his chest, as he wanted nothing but to get her away from Polyphemus, at any cost. He said, "Our ship is around the back of the island. You and Grover-"

"No way," they said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible rams-horn spear from the Cyclops's cave. Grover had found a sheep's thigh bone, which he didn't look too happy about, but he was gripping it like a club, ready to attack.

"We'll take him together," Clarisse growled.

"Yeah," Grover said. Then he blinked, like he couldn't believe he'd just agreed with Clarisse about something.

"All right," Percy said. "Attack plan Macedonia."

They nodded. We'd all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood. They knew what he was talking about. They would sneak around either side and attack the Cyclops from the flanks while he held his attention in the front.

Percy hefted his sword and shouted, "Hey, Ugly!"

The giant whirled toward him. "Another one? Who are you?"

"Put down my friend. I'm the one who insulted you."

"You are Nobody?"

"That's right, you smelly bucket of nose drool! I'm Nobody and I'm proud of it! Now, put her down and get over here. I want to stab your eye out again."

"RAAAR!" he bellowed.

The good news: he dropped Y/N. The bad news: he dropped her headfirst onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll.

As she lied there, motionless and dizzy, she could make out only a bit of what was going on. She could see Percy and Clarisse handling the cyclops, and then felt herself move. It was Annabeth, still wearing her invisible cap, trying to pick her up muttering words in a quivering voice, which she found hard to comprehend in her state. She was finally picked up properly when Grover came to help.

Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Grover and Annabeth carrying Y/N across the rope bridge. It wouldn't have been his first choice, given the man-eating sheep on the other side, but at the moment that looked better than this side of the chasm, and it gave him an idea.

"Fall back!" he told Clarisse.

She rolled away as the Cyclops's fist smashed the olive tree beside her.

They ran for the bridge, Polyphemus right behind them. He was cut up and hobbling from so many wounds, but all they'd done was slow him down and make him mad.

Halfway down the path to the beach, standing completely unharmed in the midst of a flock of killer sheep, was an old friend.

"Bad Polyphemus," Tyson said. "Not all Cyclopes as nice as we look."

Tyson gave them the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus-who'd apparently been following them ever since the Long Island Sound, waiting for Tyson to play with him - had found Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham and pulled him to safety. He and Tyson had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find them, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep and found this island.

Percy wanted to hug the big oaf, except he was standing in the middle of killer sheep. "Tyson, thank the gods. Y/N is hurt!"

"You thank the gods she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled.

"No!" he knelt beside her and was worried sick by what he saw. Annabeth took off her cap muttering, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. If only I had my sword with me!" He noticed the gash on her forehead. He was relieved she looked fine but....Y/N. He found his heart feeling heavy with each passing second. The side of her head was covered in blood. It was worse than he expected. Her skin was pale and clammy. But Y/N looked awake, thankfully. He noticed her eyes opening and shutting lazily, as if she was trying to figure out what was going on. 

Grover and Percy exchanged nervous looks. Then an idea came to him. "Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?"

"Which one?" Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.

"In the tree!" he said. "The gold one!"

"Oh. Pretty. Yes."

Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. He reached up and lifted the Fleece off its branch. Immediately the leaves on the oak tree turned yellow. Tyson started wading back toward Percy, as the other yelled, "No time! Throw it!"

The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag Frisbee. He caught it with a grunt. It was heavier than he'd expected-sixty or seventy pounds of precious gold wool.

"Good- good idea," Annabeth muttered.

Percy spread it over Y/N, covering everything but her face, and prayed silently to all the gods he could think of, even the ones he didn't like.

_Please. Please._

The color returned to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open, properly now. The wound on her head began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, "Mrs. Polyphemus? Or..."

Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."

"Y/N," Percy said, "just lay still."

"Shut up," she said, weakly, "Don't tell me what to do." She looked a lot better. In fact, she shimmered with health, as if someone had injected her with glitter.

Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. "Down!" he told them as they tried to climb him, looking for food. A few were sniffing in their direction. "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!" They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, and they were starting to realize Tyson didn't have any treats for them. They wouldn't hold out forever with so much fresh meat nearby.

"We have to go," Percy said. "Our ship is..." The Queen Anne's Revenge was a very long way away. The shortest route was across the chasm, and they'd just destroyed the only bridge. The only other possibility was through the sheep.

"Tyson," he called, "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"

"The sheep want food."

"I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there."

Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. "Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!"

He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit.

"Keep the Fleece around you," he told Y/N. "Just in case you're not fully healed yet. Can you stand?"

She tried, but her face turned pale again. "Ohh. Not fully healed. Well how the fuck does a healer heal herself? Ugh.."

Percy chuckled hearing her. She still somehow managed to keep her sense of humor intact. Y/N felt his hands cover her cheeks as she looked up at him. She found his eyes captivating. There was something strange about how his eyes looked. Well, it's more about what his eyes spoke. Like they were the only ones to know about something. 

Something that she was supposed to know - correction, both of them were supposed to know. She felt like something like this happened before. Well, not her getting thrashed like this but...Percy.

Him being this close.

Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made her gasp breaking her train of thoughts. Maybe, it was just her overthinking because of the condition she was in.

"Ribs broken," Clarisse said. "They're mending, but definitely broken."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked.

Clarisse glared at him. "Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her."

Before he could argue, Clarisse picked up Y/N like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach. Grover and Percy followed.

As soon as they got to the edge of the water, Percy concentrated on the Queen Anne's Revenge. He willed it to raise anchor and come to him. After a few anxious minutes, they saw the ship rounding the tip of the island.

"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. He was bounding down the path to join them, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friend ran away without feeding them.

"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy told the others. "All we have to do is swim for the ship."

"With Y/N like this?" Clarisse protested.

"Maybe if you take her head and I take her legs, and then swim together-" Annabeth tried to come up with a plan hastily.

"We can do it," Percy insisted. He was starting to feel confident again. Afterall, he was back in his home turf - the sea. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."

They almost made it, too.

They were just wading past the entrance to the ravine, when they heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward them with a boulder in each hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!
> 
> Hey guys, I will take a short break for now until my exams are over. I really need to focus on my studies at the moment.


End file.
